Carers Passport
On this page
- Lead Organisation
Isle of Wight Council
- Project contact
Lizzie Martin, Manager, Carers IW
Liz Hennessy, Commissioning Officer
The Carers Passport is a scheme enabling carers to be recognised for their caring role.
It highlights the important role that a carer plays and the wealth of knowledge they have about the person they care for, encouraging health and care professionals to utilize this knowledge. The Carers Passport also gives carers access to support, services, and other benefits.
The Carers Passport is an ID badge and lanyard that allows the carer to visit St Marys Hospital on the Isle of Wight outside of normal visiting hours, to help with meals and drinking and be actively involved in meetings about the person they care for, with their consent, and be included in any discussions surrounding discharge. The Carers Passport also offers free parking at St Mary’s Hospital along with a discount on meals the hospital restaurant.
- Partners
Carers IW
- Project duration
October 2023 – ongoing
- Key beneficiaries
Unpaid carers
Carers Passport
Why we started this initiative
When we asked carers what they needed, they told us that they felt ignored across society.
In healthcare settings, carers found they were being dismissed rather than embraced. The Carers Passport felt like it could help.
We worked together to change things and now we have seen carers supporting the person they care for. This helps reduce the person’s anxiety and enables them to retain their independent living skills whilst they are in hospital, resulting in better outcomes for the person when they are discharged. Over 300 NHS staff recognise carers and the expertise they can provide.
Our goals
Unpaid carers told us that they felt that they were invisible, the Passport enables carers to be recognised and valued for their knowledge and skills.
‘We carers are constantly told to make sure we look after ourselves, but often we are not recognised as the expert in care. The difference this has made is that professionals now address me, and members of the public make room for both of us, I feel acknowledged.’ – Ann
Those carers that were also juggling employment spoke to us about their concerns about retaining their job and caring role. We have been able to offer unpaid carers opportunities to receive support, and make it easier for them to demonstrate why they need flexibility at work.
We carers are constantly told to make sure we look after ourselves, but often we are not recognised as the expert in care. The difference this has made is that professionals now address me, and members of the public make room for both of us, I feel acknowledged.
Ann, Carer
How we’re implementing it
- The IW Council, NHS and Carers IW are working together to promote and implement the passport across all our services.
- We have sent out a joint communications to local papers, radio station and the Island-wide carers network.
- All registered carers have received information and forms to apply for the passport.
- We all agreed to one passport for the Island and agreed that as many carers as possible should be eligible. The project was launched at the Adult Social Care Conference with carers leading on the project.
- Carers have been involved from the beginning and were fully involved in the planning of the project.
We ensured that carers were part of the decision making and helped us work out what needed to change and how. We tried to simplify the process and have one Carers Passport across the Island, with carers designing the application process. We chose our local carers charity to lead on the process to ensure that carers were at the centre of decision making. Working with the voluntary sector rather than statutory bodies also had the benefit of being able to keep the process simple.
We ensured the NHS colleagues and the IW Council were committed to the project and did all they could to highlight and promote the initiative. We asked carers to trial the passport and tell us what worked and what needed to change.
This initiative has highlighted that we all need an identity that others can relate to and that it does not take a huge monetary investment to make positive changes, just a willingness to learn, listen and recognise our experts in care – our unpaid carers.